Castle Howard Mausoleum

By the 18th century, overcrowding of the burial grounds of London’s churches had become so acute that in 1711 Parliament approved a plan for building 50 new Commissioners Churches in the suburbs. Sir Christopher Wren and Sir John Vanbrugh were prominent members of the Commission and both disapproved of the tradition of allowing burials inside churches. Sir Christopher objected that the custom was ‘not only unwholesome, but the Pavement can never be kept even, nor Pews upright.’ whilst Sir John called it an ‘Inhuman Custome’. They favoured new tree planted cemeteries outside the city with space allocated for the wealthy to erect freestanding mausolea.

It is against this background that Vanbrugh c.1722 suggested to the Earl of Carlisle, who was not only wealthy but a prominent aristocrat, that he should erect a family mausoleum in the park at Castle Howard. Castle Howard’s mansion and park occupied the site of the old castle, church and village of Henderskelfe so the local parish church was some distance away – which may have influenced the Earls’ decision. Lord Carlisle wrote in his will:

I do design to build a burial place near my seat of Castle Howard, where I desire to be lay’d …placed upon Lody Hill over against ye Hill where ye two high Beaches stand whereby it may be an ornament to ye Seat.

Vanbrugh died in 1726 and so it fell to Nicholas Hawksmoor to agree the final layout with the Earl. The round Tomb of Cecilia Metella or the Tomb of Gallienus on the Via Appia, Rome, both of which the Earl may have seen on his Grand Tour, seem to have informed the design. Work started in April 1729 and continued until 1745. Lord Carlisle died in 1738 so had to be buried temporarily in the parish church of Bulmer but was transferred once the mausoleum was completed. The crypt housing the Earl and his successors is a very dark space below the main floor, but the circular chapel is light, airy and impressive. The building is awaiting renovation and so is not normally open to the public, but the Gardens Trust organised a Study Day at Castle Howard and we were allowed access with suitable protective clothing. Although in some ways rather a gloomy building the Earl chose its site well and it makes an impressive ‘eye-catcher’ on the horizon some three quarters of a mile southeast of the mansion.